04-R 240

2004 -- S 3052

Enacted 05/04/04

J O I N T R E S O L U T I O N

PROCLAIMING MAY 7, 2004 "URI COMMERCIAL FISHERIES DAY"

Introduced By: Senators Sosnowski, Paiva-Weed, Lenihan, Damiani, and McCaffrey

Date Introduced: April 21, 2004

     WHEREAS, The University of Rhode Island has been conducting research on behalf of

the commercial fishing industry of Rhode Island for over one hundred years; and

     WHEREAS, The permanent breach in the Point Judith Pond recommended by the URI

Agricultural Experiment Station in 1896 led to the development of the Port of Galilee, one of the

most important commercial fishing ports in the nation; and

     WHEREAS, A cooperative effort between the University of Rhode Island and the Point

Judith Fishermen’s Cooperative led to the creation of the first university-based fisheries

technology program in the nation in 1966; and

     WHEREAS, Safety training programs developed by the University of Rhode Island and

the Rhode Island fishing industry have saved countless lives and have become a model for similar

programs around the country; and

     WHEREAS, Legal research at the University of Rhode Island was instrumental in the

development of the Point Club, the only successful self-insurance program owned by commercial

fishermen in the nation; and

     WHEREAS, Gear selectivity research at the University of Rhode Island is making it

possible for fishermen throughout New England to target healthy commercial stocks, reducing the

bycatch of unwanted and undersized species; and

     WHEREAS, The strong history and cooperative spirit between the Rhode Island fishing

industry and the University of Rhode Island has culminated in the creation of the Rhode Island

Commercial Fisheries Center; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence

Plantations, in celebration of over a century of cooperation between the University of Rhode

Island and the state’s oldest industry, commercial fishing, hereby proclaims Friday, May 7, 2004

to be “URI Commercial Fisheries Day” in the state of Rhode Island.

=======

LC03175

=======